Offline voicemail

• US 8,284,909 B2
• Filed: 09/29/2008
• Issued: 10/09/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 09/29/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Seetharaman, Shivakumar, Higashi, Michael K., Nalliah, Selvaraj, Flint, Joseph T., Zafar, Salman, Balducci, Juan V. Esteve
• Primary Examiner(s): Goins, Davetta W
• Assistant Examiner(s): Islam, Mohammad
• Application Number:
  US12/239,994
• Publication Number:
  US 20100080365A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,471 Days
• Field of Search: 379 8812- 8823, 704/235, 704/251, 704/270, 704/260, 704/275, 709/206, 4554121-466
• US Class Current: 379/88.22
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 15/26 Speech to text systems G10L15/08 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/72433 for voice messaging, e.g. dictaphones for answering incoming calls H04M1/64
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2201/60 Medium conversion
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2203/253 where a visual mode is used instead of a voice mode
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2203/4509 Unified messaging with single point of access to voicemail and other mail or messaging systems
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/533 Voice mail systems
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/53333 Message receiving aspects
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/537 Arrangements for indicating the presence of a recorded message , whereby the presence information might include a preview or summary of the message
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/14 Short messaging services, e.g. short message services [SMS] or unstructured supplementary service data [USSD]

Abstract

A method for accessing offline voicemail messages within a mobile messaging application may be provided. First, a voice mail message may be received and the voicemail message may be transcribed to text. Next, the voicemail message and the text transcription may be stored. The recipient may then be presented with a list of voicemail messages and the voicemail message may be retrieved in response to the recipient. The recipient may read or listen to the voicemail message or both. The recipient may also annotate the voicemail message.

Claims

1. A computer-readable storage device which stores a set of instructions which when executed performs a method for accessing offline voicemail messages, the method executed by the set of instructions comprising:

receiving a voicemail message;

transcribing the voicemail message to text;

storing the voicemail message and the text transcription;

presenting a recipient with a list of voicemail messages, the voicemail messages being generated from calls that were made to the recipient;

retrieving the voicemail message in response to a request from the recipient, wherein retrieving the voicemail message comprises enabling the recipient to retrieve the voicemail without dialing into a service;

receiving an annotated voicemail message from the recipient, the annotated voicemail including text notes provided by the recipient, the text notes being separate from the text transcription;

connecting to a server to store the annotated voicemail message;

switching from the text transcription to the voicemail message, wherein switching from the text transcription to the voicemail message comprises;

selecting a point in the text transcription, and

playing the voicemail from the selected point in the text transcription; and

encrypting and decrypting the text transcription and the voicemail message.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein presenting the recipient with a list of voicemail messages comprises sorting a communication history based on a sender.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein presenting the recipient with the list of voicemails comprises presenting a recipient interface, wherein presenting the recipient interface comprises presenting actions to the recipient.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein presenting actions comprises at least one of the following:

previewing the transcript;

listening to the voicemail message;

deleting the voicemail message;

replying to the voicemail message;

flagging the voicemail message;

annotating the voicemail message; and

calling back a number from the voicemail message.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein replying to the voicemail message comprises replying to the voicemail message with at least one of the following:

a telephone call, an electronic mail message, and a mobile message.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein retrieving the voicemail message comprises:

enabling the recipient to read the voicemail; and

enabling the recipient to listen to the voicemail message.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein receiving the voicemail message comprises:

recognizing at least one of the following;

a telephone number and a sender; and

generating sender information, wherein generating sender information comprises at least one of the following;

providing an electronic mail address,

providing a physical address,

providing a website link, and

providing other configured information about at least one of the following;

the recognized number and the recognized sender.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein transcribing the voicemail message to text comprises denoting unrecognized voicemail speech in the voicemail with at least one of the following:

font, color, and size.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising receiving a notification of at least one missed call.

10. A system for accessing offline voicemail messages, the system comprising:

a memory storage; and

a processing unit coupled to the memory storage, wherein the processing unit is operative to;

receive a voicemail message on a server;

transcribe the voicemail message from speech to a text transcription;

download the voicemail message and the text transcription to a recipient'"'"'s mobile device;

store the voicemail message and the text transcription in a memory contained on the recipient'"'"'s device;

present the recipient with a list of voicemail messages;

receive a request, from the recipient, to retrieve one of the voicemail messages from the list of voicemail messages;

in response to receiving the request to retrieve the voicemail message, retrieve the voicemail message from the recipient'"'"'s mobile device, wherein the retrieved voicemail message is in the form of a traditional electronic mail message;

receive an annotated voicemail message in response to the recipient annotating the retrieved voicemail message, the annotated voicemail including text notes provided by the recipient;

connect to the server to store the annotated voicemail message;

switch from the text transcription to the voicemail message, wherein being operative to switch from the text transcription to the voicemail message comprises being operative to select a point in the text transcription to switch from the text transcription to the voicemail message; and

play the voicemail message from the selected point in the text transcription.

11. The system of claim 10, wherein the processing unit being operative to present the recipient with the list of voicemail messages comprises the processing unit being operative to present a recipient interface, wherein the recipient interface is configured to present actions to the recipient.

12. A method for accessing offline voicemail messages, the method comprising:

receiving voicemail messages and missed calls on a server;

transcribing the voicemail messages to text transcriptions;

denoting unrecognized voicemail speech in the voicemail with at least one of the following;

font, color, and size;

downloading the voicemail messages and the missed calls to a recipient'"'"'s device, wherein the recipient'"'"'s device is at least one of the following;

a mobile device and a client computer;

storing the voicemail messages and the text transcriptions;

presenting a recipient with a list of the voicemail messages and the missed calls;

receiving a request, from the recipient, to retrieve one of the voicemail messages from the list of voicemail messages;

retrieving the voicemail message from the recipient'"'"'s device, wherein the voicemail message is in the form of a traditional electronic mail message;

receiving an annotated voicemail message in response to the recipient annotating the retrieved voicemail message, the annotated voicemail including text notes provided by the recipient;

storing the annotated voicemail message on the recipient'"'"'s device;

synchronizing the recipient'"'"'s device with the server, wherein synchronizing the recipient'"'"'s device with the server comprises;

connecting to the server to store the annotated voicemail message, and

receiving a notification of new voicemail messages and new missed calls.